»Nazi Germany’s attack on and occupation of the Soviet Union created a space in which other kinds of »conquests« could occur: the many forms of sexual encounters involving Wehrmacht soldiers or SS men and local women. This comprehensive study dispels the myth that military leaders, in adhering to Nazi ideology that officially condemned relations between »Aryans« and allegedly »racially inferior« Eastern Europeans, strictly repressed soldiers’ sexuality. In the Soviet Union, sex crimes by German troops were a widespread reality and included coerced disrobement, sexual torture, and assault and rape committed by individuals or groups. Arguing that such abusive behavior is best understood within the broader context of sexuality and notions of masculinity, historian Regina Mühlhäuser not only examines sex crimes but also the spectrum of German soldiers’ heterosexual activities, from visits to secret prostitutes or officially established military brothels, to relations with women who traded sex for protection and food or other scarce goods, to consensual liaisons (which lead at times, especially in Estonia and Latvia, to applications for marriage permits). In charting this larger terrain and drawing not only on official military documents but also on contemporary and post-war accounts authored by eyewitnesses and those directly involved, Conquests offers new insights into the complexity of soldiers’ behavior and the contradictory responses of Nazi military leadership.
Focusing on the nexus between soldiers’ behavior and institutional attempts to channel and control it, the author demonstrates that regulatory strategies that propagated moderation and certain precautionary measures served to both curb sexual activities and facilitate them. Instruction about venereal disease and medical examination programs for military men and, beginning in 1942, the establishment of brothels in which prostitutes were monitored by physicians in effect created opportunities for soldiers (especially for very young men) who might otherwise have abstained from sexual acts.
Although the Wehrmacht and SS leadership followed similar paths in regulating rather than strictly repressing heterosexuality, different tendencies surfaced in the two organizations. The Wehrmacht placed more emphasis on upholding »racial consciousness« and moral arguments and at times punished sexual offenders rather severely. The SS, in contrast, adopted a more pragmatic stance by focusing on avoiding the dangers of disease and espionage but could react harshly if sexual encounters were kept secret.
A further chapter reveals how, as the war progressed, detailed plans were even drawn up to deal with the children (with projected numbers running into the millions) resulting from sexual encounters with women in the occupied Soviet territories, in order to ensure that those with »Ayran potential« were »made useful« for the Nazi regime. Regina Mühlhäuser’s material-rich study not only complements, contrasts with, and deepens previous research on Wehrmacht and SS policies on sexuality; it also enriches our understanding of the intersections between masculinity, combat readiness, violence, and sexuality in wartime.« (Source: Hamburger Edition)